Natural History Journal

This series on what makes California such a unique and special place began with an overview of the state's incredible biodiversity .  Then, a few days ago, we talked about California's climate.   (Actually, we did much more than that: we went through an entire crash course on atmospheric conditions and threw in a few laws of physics just for fun.  If you missed it, catch up here .) Today's post is broken into four sections that each realistically deserve not only their own article, but their own text book(s)!  Those sections are: California's Geomorphic Provinces Plate Tectonics and Geologic Processes Soils The Rain Shadow Effect Much like we trekked all the way to the source and recognized the sun, along with Earth's tilt and rotation, as the ultimate driving forces of California's climate, today we'll peel back several more layers of science to take a look not only at California's diverse topography, but the tectonic forces and geologic proc...

Tule Lake, California Ok, so there are no birds in that first photo, but I couldn't resist leading with the most breath-taking photo I took the entire time I was at Tule Lake.  It's the kind of photo an amateur photographer such as myself dreams of accidentally taking every once in a while! In the limited time I had at Tule Lake, mostly in the evening and from a less-than-ideal vantage point in a moving vehicle, I did manage to snag a few decent bird photos to share. Great Egret ( Egretta alba ) at left, with Great Blue Heron ( Ardea herodias ), wading amongst American Coots  ( Fulica Americana ) and an assortment of grebes. Western Grebes ( Aechmophorus occidentalis ) Tule Lake is a critically valuable wetland habitat along the Pacific Flyway that supports nearly 200 species of birds, many of which migrate great distances from breeding grounds in the Arctic to warmer overwintering grounds.  Migratory bird...

Medicine Lake Highland is a massive shield-like volcano in Northern California, east of Mount Shasta in a region that combines features of the Cascades with those of the Modoc Plateau and Basin and Range provinces.  The volcano has a volume of 130 cubic miles, making it California's largest volcano.  And most people have never even heard of it!  The volcano rises nearly 4,000 feet above the Modoc Plateau, from a starting elevation of roughly 4,000 feet to nearly 8,000 feet at its summit.  The Medicine Lake Highlands span about 30 miles north-south, and 20 miles east-west.  Looking southwest, across Lava Beds National Monument, toward the massive shield edifice of Medicine Lake Highland. On my recent geology field studies trip, offered through Modesto Junior College (taking extra classes purely for the joy of learning seems to be a sort of hobby of mine), I had the privilege of traveling to Lava Beds National Monument to see the products ...

I mentioned that there would be a short series of geology posts coming up, but I can't seem to help myself: the plant life of Lava Beds National Monument is too enticing.  So first, before I get to the volcanoes, I will return to my first love: botany.  Trail to Big Painted Cave & Symbol Bridge, Lava Beds National Monument.  It may look deserty and uninviting to some people, but to me, it's a beautiful landscape, rich in diversity! Actually, botany is my second love; my first will always be zoology.  As a biology major with a zoology concentration, my very first science class in college was Introduction to Botany.  It didn't make too much sense at the time, but it didn't matter because I fell in love.  Throughout my college career, I took more botany and "plant classes" than any other subject.  So you'll have to bear with me: this blog will gravitate toward plants frequently. According to botanists ...

I recently returned from a trip to Northern California, the primary purpose of which was studying volcanoes.  All the fascinating geology of the Lava Beds area will make it into a post in the near future, but first, I wanted to share a few of the photos I took of this little guy, a Canyon Wren ( Catherpes mexicanus ), at Petroglyph Point. Canyon Wren ( Catherpes mexicanus ) Canyon Wrens are small Passerines, perching songbirds in the order Passeriformes.  Their barred tail sticks out in characteristic wren style, and their white throat is a prominent field mark.  They have a long, thin bill, designed for foraging for insects.  Canyon Wrens inhabit the dry mountains and canyon lands of western North America.  In California, they are found in a low-elevation ring around the Central Valley in rocky habitats, as well as east of the Sierra, in the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges of Southern California, an...